all right breaking news. pellow, everyone. i'm don lemon. we're going to tell you about deadly tornados that really ravaged mississippi, and southeastern states and really up into the midwest. let's get right to our meteorologist jacqui jeras following this in the weather center. jacqui, this is just terrible news. >> and it continues to go odon. things haven't really gotten much better since the first tornado touched down earlier this morning and the threat is real at this hour and we're looking at mississippi, alabama,

into parts of fenten -- of tennessee, and kentucky for the threat at this time. we've got tornado warnings for kemper county, mississippi. this is a doppler radar indicated tornado right there at the bottom of your screen and we've got another warning here for fayette, pickens and tuscaloosa counties and this is again a doppler-indicated radar tornado. and we'll take you on up into northeastern parts of alabama, and this did have a history of producing a tornado with a little bit of damage. we don't know how serious it is, but we still have a warning in effect for marshall county. it does appear that that storm is starting to weaken a little bit so hopefully we'll see that to begin to expire. now i want to take you into the nashville, tennessee, area. severe warning. you can expect to see winds in excess of 60 miles per hour. and heavy downpours and lots of lightning. oh, there you can see it on our live lightning tracker as these

storms to push eastward, we'll have to continue to watch them and see if they pick up any rotation but it doesn't look like that's a likely indication at this hour. now, we're expecting to see severe storms continue through the night tonight in this high-risk area in particular, the storm pushes towards the east and we'll be watching northern georgia, eastern tennessee, and eastern kentucky overnight. tomorrow, it will mostly be the eastern seaboards, from, say, the jersey shore on southward but it's less favorable for rotating thunderstorm, don, as it will be straight-line wind damage and some hail. >> all right, jacque jeras is going to be very busy tonight. jacqui, thank you. we'll check back with you. meantime, let's get you to the ground and tell you exactly what's going on. the death toll at mississippi now stands at nine and could rise after the deadly storm system went through the southeast. a live tower cam pictures from yazoo city. from yazoo city. that's a live tower cam picture. look at the devastation there. that's only a part of it. two of the victims we've told you from the nine people who have died, children.

and you need to be on alert at this hour, if you're in alabama, kentucky or tennessee. already there are 43 unconfirmed reports of tornados from northern missouri, through mississippi, perhaps the most destructive one hit yazoo city, mississippi. you just saw live pictures from there. it was before the storm cell traveled across the state and then into alabama. the tornado that blasted through there was almost a mile wide. the yazoo city fire chief says 20 to 30 homes now destroyed there and he believes there are more people, that people were inside of those homes. search-and-rescue efforts underway at this hour. over all 12 counties are reporting injuries that's according to the mississippi emergency management. this situation, as you heard from jacqui jeras, is getting worse. continues to go on. we're going to follow this breaking news story for you throughout the evening here on cnn. make sure you stay tuned. i'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. eastern for sure. in the meantime, "larry king live" begins right now.

hey, this is your old cotton picking, tobacco chewing, stump-jumping, gravy sopping, coffee putting, hillbilly from hill county. you're listening to l-u-c-k, luck, texas. >> wish me luck. >> larry: tonight -- ♪ on the road again >> larry: willie nelson. ♪ just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ >> larry: the outlaw's on the road again and makes a pit stop at our studio for you. pot on you right now? >> you can arrest me. ♪ >> larry: the legendary willie nelson and i team up for the hour. next on "larry king live." ♪ ♪ pull off your coat and throw it in the car ♪ ♪ why not stay a little longer >> larry: what a treat we have in store for you tonight. we welcome back willie nelson to

"larry king live." he's on the road again, literally, with the "on the road again" tour. and his newest album "country music" will be released next tuesday from round records. always good to do this show. last time you were on the road from your tour bus. you're touring again? tell me about it. >> we play anaheim tomorrow night. we were just in vegas for a bmi convention down there and a broadcasters convention. >> larry: how big is the tour? >> oh i don't -- i'm just starting. i don't know. just one long tour, you know? >> larry: they don't tell you beyond the next night? >> i don't want to know. >> larry: because we've got some in your bus. does your bus go everywhere? there are times you have to fly, right? >> i always hate it. i love it when i can stay on the bus. you know, i don't even use hotels. i stay on the bus all the time. >> larry: why? >> i have everything i need there. i got a shower, i got food.

i got a couple of people in there that wait on me hand and foot. so i get better service there than i get in the hotel. so why go in there? >> larry: are there times, though you have to fly? >> yes. and i don't like to fly. i don't like all the hassles. never -- you know, i don't like the luggage and all that stuff. >> larry: they hassling you? >> well, no more than they hassle anybody else, you know? it's just a hassle to get up and go there by this time and get your luggage checked in by that time. and by the time you go through all the securities and everything, it's a hassle. >> larry: you've been doing music for how many years? how many years singing professionally? >> i got my first professional job i think when i was 12 years old. >> larry: and you're how old now? >> i'm 77. will be april 30th. >> larry: 12 from 77. that's 65 years. does it ever get tiring? >> well, sure, the actual physical work gets tiring. but i don't ever get tired of playing the music.

and i don't get tired of the fans. you know, that's sort of the reason that i get out there, i guess, to see the fans. >> larry: so it's -- sinatra told me once it's still a kick. >> yes. still a kick. >> larry: to go on that stage? >> yes. yeah, i knew him. he was a good buddy. >> larry: a good guy. >> yeah. >> larry: if he liked you. >> yeah, yeah. >> larry: your new cd is called "country music," which seems funny to me because who is more associated with country music than you that we have to put that title on. so give me your definition of country music. >> well, this album made up of fiddles, steels, guitars and songs like "house of gold" and "satisfied mind," which to me are really country music standards. this is the stardust of country music. and these songs and their time were just as famous and just as good and soul like stardust and moonlight. >> larry: so they're all famous

to country fans, would all know -- "man with the blues," "seaman's blues," "gotta walk alone," "my baby's gone," "satisfied wind," "pistol packin' mama," we all know that. "lay your pistol down," "drinking champagne," and "house of gold," all favorite songs. and "i am a pilgrim." and "ocean of diamonds." >> "i am a pilgrim" is an old merle travis song, and "dark as a dungeon" is another merle travis song for the miners which is very appropriate for these days. there is a lot of great music in there. >> larry: you sing everything. you have great albums of pop songs. >> sure. >> larry: the other night -- the other day, hal david, a great songwriter, told me that you are the best singer living. >> thank you, hal! >> larry: you sell a song, and when you hear willie nelson, you know it's willie nelson. >> that's great. >> larry: is it as much fun to sing pop as country? >> sure.

it's more of a challenge to do those pop classics and standards because i grew up singing "your cheatin' heart" and the hank williams' songs and it's second nature to me. but to do "stardust" and "moonlight" and "vermont" and songs like that, you really have to be on your game a little bit. >> larry: but you still give it that same willie -- no one sings it like willie nelson. >> it still sounds country. >> larry: because you're country. >> because i am, yeah. >> larry: where do you live, if you live on a bus? >> well, i live on the bus mostly, but i also have a home in texas, and i have an apartment in l.a. and a home in maui. so i kind of got the best of all worlds. >> larry: now are you almost always working? >> most of the time, which is okay. >> larry: talking about a willie nelson tour is redundant? >> yeah, i'm through with this one and starting another one. we're going to europe in june, and i'll be over there for the month of june. going to england, paris. >> larry: what do you think of the current state of country music? >> well, personally, i think it's good.

i know my shows -- i have a lot of people there who are great country music fans. and i do hank williams, and i do my stuff. so i don't really look at country music as the way it is today. i look at country music like the way it's always been. >> larry: so country music doesn't have its bee bop or its newcomers or its teen bop. it is country is country. >> that's right. that's right. >> larry: and there are pure country singers, right? >> absolutely. george jones is a good example. >> larry: he's a country singer? >> a great country singer. vern gosdin. have you ever heard of vern gosdin? >> larry: i've heard of him. >> a great writer. he is passed now. a fantastic writer and singer. and some of those guys are just unbeatable. >> larry: willie nelson. he's got something to say about sarah palin, the tea party movement, his offer to president obama, all ahead. we're covering everything tonight. it's a night with willie. stay with us. heel pressure.

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♪ >> he's become a kind of folk hero. >> to see willie nelson. >> now we're having fun! ♪ whiskey river take my mind ♪ ♪ whiskey river don't run dry ♪ you're all i got to take care of me ♪ >> larry: we're back with the legendary willie nelson. his new album "country music" will be out everywhere on tuesday. and his latest tour has started right now in vegas. you will hear from willie everywhere. some -- like we never hear you on country radio stations. have you been marginalized? a lot of times we'll hear you on the pop stations, but country

stations aren't playing you as much. if so, why? >> well, honestly, i never have really received that much air play on commercial a.m. xm radio. >> larry: why? >> i never really did fit the format, i don't think. whatever was popular today, that wasn't what i was doing. i was into something else. it never really seemed to hurt my career any at all, because if this station didn't play me, that one over there did. so i always had air play, but not necessarily from the mainstream country music, because that has changed so much that my music didn't really fit the format. >> larry: are you a singer who plays the guitar or a guitar player who sings? >> i'm a guitar player who writes songs and sings. >> larry: guitar is first? >> guitar, yeah. >> larry: is that what you did

at 12? where did you learn guitar? >> my grandmother was a music teacher, and my grandfather taught me a few chords on the guitar before he died, which i was six years old when he died. but then my grandmother taught my sister and i a lot about music. she learned to read, and i would sit on the piano while she was reading, i would sit there and play guitar and try to learn the chords. so i learned a lot from just listening to her. >> larry: and when did you start to sing? >> i was singing along and writing poems. i was writing poems before i wrote melodies to those poems. old what do you know about this stuff? >> larry: did your voice sound like that then like it sounds now? what did you sound like at 12? did you the gravel? >> i had a high voice, and i went through the same problem that every guy goes through when his voice changes. i was playing clubs, and my voice changed.

so i went from a high singer to a low, and then back and forth. and it would break for about two years. >> larry: you've collaborated with many different artists. you tried your hand in a lot of musical genres. does that put the country -- did they get angry when you -- does the country establishment, if there is such a thing, get angry when you perform with wynton marsalis, julio iglesias, kurt nilsen from norway, snoop dogg, o'conner, mishka, and so on? does the country say is willie leaving us? >> well, i don't think any of them really get angry. the ones that get angry, that makes it all worthwhile. there are many out there that think i don't know what i'm doing. >> larry: you're beyond that. do you still play nashville? >> sure. absolutely. i enjoy playing nashville. and the band that we used on

this record, these are all nashville pickers. and we played in nashville at with all the songs a few weeks ago. >> larry: are they the best? always talk about the nashville sound. >> these are the cream of the crop. this is ronnie mccoury and his family, del mccoury, a great grouch bluegrass pickers. and chris sharp and dennis crouch, great upright bass player. these guys, the fiddle player, these are the real pickers. and it's always comfortable to be able to look at anybody in the room and nod at them and know they're going to take a great course. >> larry: kind of fun when you sing with great people. >> absolutely. >> larry: they make you better, right? >> they make me comfortable. >> larry: anybody you want to work with you haven't worked with? >> let's sing one. let's you and i do one. >> larry: want to do one? >> yeah. >> want to do blue skies? >> yeah, we can do blue skies. >> larry: want me to start? ♪ blue skies smiling at me, nothing but blue skies do i see ♪ ♪ bluebirds singing a song,

nothing but bluebirds from now on ♪ >> larry: never saw the sun shining so bright ♪ ♪ never saw things going to right ♪ ♪ working in the day, worry at night, when you're in love, my how it flies ♪ ♪ blue skies, blue days all of them gone, nothing but blue skies from now on ♪ >> larry: as we go to break, here's a look at willie "on the road again" in concert. >> well, hello there! ♪ ♪ whiskey river take my mind, don't let her memory torture me ♪

♪ whiskey river don't run dry, you're all i got, take care of me ♪ ♪ whiskey river take my mind >> i've seen him several times. but i can't catch him alone. >> you're going to get to see willie. we're going yeah! >> and he is continuously on tour from now through october of this year. i can't imagine that. it's just phenomenal. the guy is just great. >> we thought it was especially fitting that it's april 15th, tax day. and we just thought that as we dropped our 1040s in the mail today that we would hightail it over here. so here we are. >> he does his music for his fans, for himself, and doesn't do it for what anybody else thinks. >> that's my son lucas. he has been out here working for y'all earlier. ♪ ♪ the wetness of the soul ♪ flowing from my mind ♪ warm an empty heart you left so cold ♪

♪ whiskey river take my mind ♪ don't let her memory torture me ♪ ♪ whiskey river, don't run dry ♪ you're all i got, take care of me ♪ ♪ whiskey river take my mind ♪ don't let her memory torture me ♪

♪

♪ on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ >> larry: i love all of the willie nelson songs. is "on the road again" the most famous? >> maybe so, yeah. either "on the road again" or "crazy" or "night life." funny how time slips away. >> larry: "crazy." ross perot, was his theme. >> that's right. he danced. >> larry: yeah he loves that song. but "on the road again," it's been in commercials. did that come to you? what is the story of the writing of that song? >> i was on a plane with sydney pollack and jerry schatzberg. and we were talking about doing the movie honeysuckle rose. and we were talking about a song. and they said can you come up with a song for the movie. and i said oh, you mean something about being on the road again, on the road again, i

just can't wait to get on the road again. yeah, but where is the melody? i said well i'll find one. so i went to the studio pretty much with just that in my mind. and it was an easy song to write. >> larry: and once you hear it, it never gets out of your head. it's one of those songs. as president of farm aid, you wrote to barack obama in offering to help him put together a new u.s. food policy. any word back? >> i did talk to the secretary over agriculture and got some very encouraging reports from him, and i'm looking forward to talking to him again and seeing what we can do to help the farmer. >> larry: what is your basic idea? >> well, to get the farmer more money for what he does. get the dairy farmers more money for what they do. they are in bad condition right now. they're not getting enough money, and the dairy cows are not worth what they should be worth. and this is really bad for not only the farmers, it's bad for america. it's bad for all of us. >> larry: how did you get involved, interest in the farming thing?

>> i was doing some shows in the illinois state fair. and i was on the bus talking to big jim thompson, the governor of illinois. and he and i were sitting there, and it was kind of like an annual ritual. i would come in and do the fair and he would come on the bus and we'd have a bowl of chili and drink a beer and talk about things. and this particular year, we started talking about the farmers. i'd heard from my friends in texas about how the farmers weren't doing that good. and i grew up on a farm. and i knew that it didn't ever do really great. but i heard that it was worse than usual, that they weren't get anything money and they were going out of business at an alarming rate. i started checking out, and sure enough. we at one time had over 8 million small family farmers, and now we're down to less than 2 million and that's not right. >> larry: it's the big companies that are running it. >> and that's not good for the food. it's not good for the land. it's not good for you and me. >> larry: how do you react -- what do you think about obama? >> i think he is a good man, yeah. i like him. i know his intentions are good,

and he probably felt he was going to be a lot more once he got in there than he has been able to do. but i think most of us realize that he was going to have some opposition. >> larry: did you support him? >> sure i did, yeah. >> larry: did you do any concerts for him? >> no. >> larry: but you lent your name to him? what do you make of the tea party movement? >> oh, i don't know. >> larry: oh go ahead, willie, what do you think? >> i don't know. i'm not sure what they're for or what they're against. >> larry: maybe we can nail it down. they don't like big government. they don't like taxes, i guess. >> well, so far that's two -- that's pretty good. >> larry: what do you think about sarah palin? >> oh, i think she is a likable person. you know, personally, i like her a lot. >> larry: politically you're not in tune? >> politically, i don't know, you know. i just don't know. >> larry: do you ever play alaska? >> yes, i have. >> larry: you ever play when she

was governor? >> i don't know that i did. we played fairbanks and, you know, ketchikan. i went up there in '61. i know she wasn't governor then. i went up there in '61, me and ray price and played ketchikan. >> larry: is there any state you haven't played? >> no. >> larry: all 50. >> yeah. >> larry: you tour europe? >> yep. >> larry: asia? >> asia. me and johnny cash, kris kristofferson and waylon jennings, all toured asia and went to singapore. >> larry: how did that come about, the highwaymen? >> we had done a christmas show in switzerland with john and june, and we were having a photograph session with all of us there. and we were telling about going to switzerland. and the photographer happened to ask waylon, what are you going to switzerland to do a christmas show. and waylon said because that's

where jesus was born. and the photographer said okay. >> larry: jesus was born in switzerland. >> that's right. >> larry: okay. lots of you are asking about willie's use of pot, which he has always owned up to. we'll ask about that and other things next. allergies? chlor-trimeton. hey, one dose of this, six hour relief. chlor-trimeton relieves itchy, watery eyes and sneezing for 12 full hours with less drowsiness than benadryl. it does all that? chlor-trimeton. less drowsy relief that lasts 12 hours.

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hello, everyone. don lemon here with the breaking news. the death toll in mississippi

now stands at nine and could rise after a deadly storm system tore through the southeast today. two of the victims, children. and you need to be on alert if you're in alabama, kentucky, tennessee, anywhere near those areas. already there are 43 unconfirmed reports of tornados from northern missouri, through mississippi, and perhaps the most destructive one, rel, it hit yazoo city, mississippi, before the storm cell traveled across the state and then into alabama. the tornado that blasted through there was almost a mile wide. yazoo city, the fire department there, the fire chief says 20 to 30 homes destroyed. and he believes some people were inside at the time. search-and-rescue efforts are continuing that the moment. and will through the night. overall, 12 counties are reporting injuries. that's according to the mississippi emergency management agency. i need to tell you just a short time ago, i spoke with mississippi governor, haley barbour in his hometown of yazoo city. as we understand that you're at home in yazoo city when this happened. did you see any of it? and if so, what did you do,

right after? >> caller: actually, don, we were on the road between jackson/yazoo city, trying to get to yazoo city, soon after the storm hit. the storm hit about ten minutes after 12:00 central time. and we got there about 30 minutes later. but this was a gigantic storm. this tornado it places -- appears to be several miles wide. it set down on the ground at madison parrish louisiana and crossed the river at mississippi -- eagle lake. around 70 miles. and it looks like it was on the ground at least another 80 miles when it hit choctaw county, mississippi. but at yazoo city, it skimmed the edge of town but it hit light of the city limits, went through a shopping mall, hit a

church. it's a very, very bad storm and regrettably we have some fatalities, reportedly five at this point. that's not official. but the other side of this is the outpouring of volunteers and the community who went out in these areas that are on state roads and county roads and some of them even on dirt roads, road 4-wheelers took a chainsaw to help cut out after a neighbor, it was very, very powerful to see the community come together and people just immediately, within the hour, were out trying to get roads open and save people up from there, their entrapment. >> and still assessing the damage there. again, nine people confirmed dead because of that storm system. i'm don lemon. i'll see you back here at the top of the hour, that's 10:00 p.m. eastern for more on this breaking news story. now back to "larry king live."

♪ don't knock it until you've tried it ♪ ♪ well i've tried it my friend ♪ and i'll never smoke weed with willie again ♪ >> larry: my guest the great willie nelson. don't forget that terrific album will be out tuesday, and he is on tour right now.

he is a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana. there are a lot of people in that ballpark now. the late william f. buckley was one of the leaders of that movement. california and other states are talking about legalizing it so they can tax it. do you ever think it's going to happen? >> sure. it's just a matter of time and a matter of the economy. i think the way the economy is now it's helping to come along, because if you do tax it and regulate it, there's a lot of money there that can be used for whatever we need it for, for education, for different things. >> larry: the late lenny bruce said once "marijuana will be legal some day because every law student i know smokes it." do you think it will be legal? >> i think so. and california votes on it in november. and there is the old saying as california goes, so goes the nation. >> larry: i think it was maine. >> okay. let's change to it california. >> larry: okay. another twitter question. lots of them by the way tweeting. we mention you, the tweets came in. asking about pot smoking. basically, how much and how

often? well, you know, i have changed my habits a little bit. my lungs -- and i smoked so much, you know, and i'd roll and smoke and roll and smoke. but i did get congestion from it. and i was wheezing, in the night and coughing. so i switched over to a vaporizer, which you don't get any smoke and you don't get any heat. and for a singer, someone's lungs, it's much, much healthier. >> larry: it's not pot, right? >> oh, yeah. it's pot in a vaporizer. but you -- when you, you know, you puff ahead, you're getting vapors, but not heat and not smoke. >> larry: does it have the same effect? >> yeah, it's even stronger, i think. >> larry: did you ever fear that it might be harming you? >> well, i kind of questioned myself all the time. and i was kind of like my own canary in the mine. i was watching -- because i smoked cigarettes one after the other from the time i was this

big. >> larry: still smoke? >> no. i threw those away. i rolled up 20 joints and put it in my chesterfield pack and started changing my habits. >> larry: could you smoke like a few joints and go on stage and sing? >> oh, sure, sure. but i have a huge tolerance for it that maybe everyone doesn't have. but yeah. it doesn't really. >> larry: did you ever go with stronger stuff? >> no. no. >> larry: so you would recommend it. it wouldn't harm you, it wouldn't bother you if people you knew smoked it? >> you can overdo it. you can hurt your lungs by putting anything into your lungs that has heat and smoke in it. yeah, you can overdo it. but as far as being as dangerous as cigarette smoke, no. >> larry: did you smoke today? >> do i smoke cigarettes? >> larry: did you smoke pot today. today this day? >> sure. >> larry: before you came here? >> yeah. >> larry: so you have pot in you right now. >> yeah. you could arrest me.

>> larry: this state? >> give me an enema test. >> larry: as we go to break, willie has quite a tour bus. he parked it right outside our studio and gave us a look inside. you can see how he travels and why he loves its style. watch. >> hey, this is willie. i'm on the road again, and we're stopping in to see ol' larry. ♪ on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ >> hey, larry, come on! let me show you the bus. this is where i live most of the time. and this is our ol' kitchen area, a little coffee whenever you want it. a few bunks back here. and i live in the back. not a big deal, but it's pretty nice. ♪ any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro.

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♪ ♪ don't fight it ♪ don't spite it ♪ just wait till tomorrow ♪ maybe he'll ride on again ♪ >> larry: we're back with the great willie nelson. the album "country music" will be out this tuesday. we're having a great time tonight with one of the truly great american artists, who's an avid golfer. can you smoke pot and golf? >> sure. >> larry: okay. >> i can't play any worse than i normally do anyway. >> larry: are you a good player? >> no. >> larry: why do you like golf

so much? >> oh, i don't know. it's just a place to get out and walk around outside. that's originally the reason i started doing it. i moved down to lost valley in bandera, and they had a golf course there. it was just me and my band. and my house had burned, so we moved down there and i rented five houses on the golf course. so it was just the thing to do every day. we would go play golf. >> larry: know a great definition of golf? a great walk spoiled. what do you make about the tiger woods' story? >> oh, you know, i'm not the guy to comment on any other person's marital problems because i've had enough of my own, and i know that it's real personal. and i wish him well. >> larry: what did you make of the fuss made over it, though? >> i thought it was ridiculous to put that much time following a guy around and see who he slept with the last few years. because it's really no one's business.

>> larry: you think the only business was his wife's? >> him and his wife. >> larry: what are your feelings, willie, about the i.r.s. these days? i know you had a problem back in 1990. the government sued. the final bill $16 million. they seized some of your property. you released a mail order album titled who will buy my memories, the i.r.s. tapes. don't forget that. how do you stand now? >> oh, i'm fine. yeah, i think i'm pretty well paid up. >> larry: was that tough going, though? how did you come to owe that much? >> well, i had invested in some tax shelters for many, many years ago that, you know, the cattle feeding things, and all those different things that at some point the i.r.s. disallowed. and so after advising me, my financial advisers told me to go into all of this and then the i.r.s. disallowed it. so i was deferring taxes every year and putting them into the feeding cattle deal, and when they disallowed it that meant

all those years went by that i hadn't paid taxes. it started out i only owed $2 million. if i paid them that, i would have would never had had a problem. >> larry: how do they tell you you owe $16 million? do you get a call? do you get a letter? how do they do that? >> well, i knew that it was akrugrapidly over the years. >> larry: interest. >> yeah, penalties and interest every day, it went up $5,000 or $10,000. so it really got up to $32 million, and then they chopped it down in half, and then we negotiated on that. my bass player, somebody asking me if he thought i was in trouble. and he said, well, you know, they let a guitar player get into them that far. if he owed them $100,000, then he would probably in trouble. but $32 million, they're in trouble. >> larry: that's true. in fact, whose got to worry? they do. willie generated a lot of controversy with some comments about 9/11. next.

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♪ ♪ and through the ages i'll remember ♪ ♪ blue eyes crying in the rain ♪

>> larry: willie took part in a great benefit for 9/11 victims and their families. he sang "america the beautiful." i don't think anyone ever sang it better. but he's questioned the official story. i've seen buildings implode before. i just saw the texas stadium implode just a couple of days ago. and these two buildings imploded. and the one next to it, nothing hit it. no plane hit the one next to it. it just decided to fall on its own. so naturally i have questions. >> you think something was done inside? >> yes. >> larry: but i'm told the reason it imploded was so much heat from above and so much fuel on the jets that that caused it to go down rather than go over. >> never before has a building collapsed because it was hit by an airplane, a steel building. never before. >> larry: has any building been hit by a 747, though?

>> i'm sure they have. >> larry: so you think there was something going on inside the building? >> well, i just question the whole thing. i question the story. i question the implosions. it just looks too simple, you know. >> larry: others have questioned it, too. there was an investigation. >> there should be more. >> larry: how many guitars do you own? >> i have probably 12 to 15 around the house in austin. i really play one and that's the old martin trigger. >> larry: why do you call it trigger? >> i don't know. it is my pet name. roy rogers' horse was named trigger. >> larry: how many songs have you win? >> i don't know. 2,000, 3,000, maybe more.

>> larry: how many cds have you cut? >> i don't know. there have been bootlegs. hundreds. >> larry: which of your songs are you proudest of? >> the ones "crazy funny how time slips away." "on the road again." >> larry: how did you come up with "crazy"? >> i don't know. it was a med di. i think i ripped off floyd tillman. >> larry: do you hear music in your head? >> sure. yeah. i hear melodies. >> larry: you are writing all the time? >> i could if i wanted to. i could sit down and write something right now. who knows if it would be any good or not but it would be something. any songwriter should be able to

write on the spot. >> larry: you often perform with your youngest sons. are they on the tour? >> lucas is on me with my next tour. >> larry: you must be proud. >> sure. >> larry: willie has pretty much done whatever he wanted, does he have any regrets? her. this. lives. how ? by bringing together... information. ... people ... ... machines ... ... systems ... ideas... verizon helps businesses worldwide... including fortune 500 companies... find and achieve... better. better. better. better. hey bets, can i borrow a quarter? sure, still not dry? i'm trying to shrink them. i lost weight and now some clothes are too big. how did you do it? simple stuff. eating right and i switched to whole grain.

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>> "mama don't let your babies

grow up to be cowboys ♪ >> how is it looking, good looking? i remember when a dime bag cost a dime, you know what i mean? >> larry: back with our remaining moments with willie nelson. tell me about bio willie. what is that? >> bio willie is the name of a product, biodiesel we developed made out of vegetable oil from restaurants and we use it to fuel the trucks. >> larry: cal who wrote my book with me has a mercedes who runs on that. >> yeah. >> larry: he gets it from restaurants. >> it is the new thing. >> larry: you are riding on grease. >> vegetable oil. >> larry: you have it on the bus? >> have it on the bus also. >> larry: you seemed to have lived by your own rules. do you have any major regrets,

as sinatra would say, regrets, i have a few, but too few to mention. >> that is probably true. i wouldn't want to say i regret this or regret that. i like the way things are now. if i say that was different it might change the way things are now. >> larry: any song offered to you you turned down you later regretted it? >> no. i was talking about the song "gambler" that kenny rogers did. >> larry: you had a chance to do that? >> yeah. >> larry: why didn't you do it this if. >> it was a hit. and i would have had to do it ef night. >> larry: you turned that down? you had a lot of pot then. your good friend chres kris

christopherson said everybody likes willie nelson. >> i like everybody, too. >> larry: you like people? >> yeah. >> larry: what about the plans for the july 4th backwards summer picnic? >> we're having it. leon russell, you have to have three names to get on there. >> larry: it's in austin. >> it's in austin. yeah. >> larry: you'll be touring all summer. >> touring all summer. come back in time to do the picnic. >> larry: you got a joke? >> i've got some but i'm not sure they're -- how about a golfing joke. >> larry: a golfing joke. >> this lady went to the pro shop and told the pro that a bee had stung her. do you have anything for the bee sting. he said where did it sting you.

she said before the first and second hole. he said first of all your stance is too wide. laugh laugh. >> larry: funny. let's close with a song, you and i. >> let's do it. >> larry: start us. ♪ sometimes i wonder why i spend the lonely nights dreaming of a song and a melody haunts my reverie and i am once again with you ♪ ♪ when our love was new and each kiss had inspiration ♪ >> larry: the nightingale. ♪ that was long ago and now my consolation is in the stardust of the song ♪ ♪ and beside the garden wall when were stars were bright and you were in my arms ♪ ♪ and the nightingale tells a fairy tale